Evaluation of conventional power systems

The technical, economic, and environmental characteristics of (thermal, nonsolar) electric power plants are reviewed. The fuel cycle, from extraction of new fuel to final waste management, is included. Emphasis is placed on the fossil fuel and nuclear technologies

The First Data Release from SweetSpot: 74 Supernovae in 36 Nights on WIYN+WHIRC

SweetSpot is a three-year National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Survey program to observe Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the smooth Hubble flow with the WIYN High-resolution Infrared Camera (WHIRC) on the WIYN 3.5-m telescope. We here present data from the first half of this survey, covering the 2011B-2013B NOAO semesters, and consisting of 493 calibrated images of 74 SNe Ia observed in the rest-frame near-infrared (NIR) from $0.02 < z < 0.09$. Because many observed supernovae require host galaxy subtraction from templates taken in later semesters, this release contains only the 186 NIR ($JHK_s$) data points for the 33 SNe Ia that do not require host-galaxy subtraction. The sample includes 4 objects with coverage beginning before the epoch of B-band maximum and 27 beginning within 20 days of B-band maximum. We also provide photometric calibration between the WIYN+WHIRC and Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) systems along with light curves for 786 2MASS stars observed alongside the SNe Ia. This work is the first in a planned series of three SweetSpot Data Releases. Future releases will include the full set of images from all 3 years of the survey, including host-galaxy reference images and updated data processing and host-galaxy reference subtraction. SweetSpot will provide a well-calibrated sample that will help improve our ability to standardize distance measurements to SNe Ia, examine the intrinsic optical-NIR colors of SNe Ia at different epochs, explore nature of dust in other galaxies, and act as a stepping stone for more distant, potentially space-based surveys.Comment: Published in AJ. 10 tables. 11 figures. Lightcurve plots included as a figureset and available in source tarball. Data online at http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~wmwv/SweetSpot/DR1_data

The Relationship of Oral Health with Progression of Physical Frailty among Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study Composed of Two Cohorts of Older Adults from the United Kingdom and United States

Objective: To investigate the prospective associations between oral health and progression of physical frailty in older adults. Design: Prospective analysis. Setting and Participants: Data are from the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS) comprising 2137 men aged 71 to 92 years from 24 British towns and the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (HABC) Study of 3075 men and women aged 70 to 79 years. Methods: Oral health markers included denture use, tooth count, periodontal disease, self-rated oral health, dry mouth, and perceived difficulty eating. Physical frailty progression after ∼8 years follow-up was determined based on 2 scoring tools: the Fried frailty phenotype (for physical frailty) and the Gill index (for severe frailty). Logistic regression models were conducted to examine the associations between oral health markers and progression to frailty and severe frailty, adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral, and health-related factors. Results: After full adjustment, progression to frailty was associated with dentition [per each additional tooth, odds ratio (OR) 0.97; 95% CI: 0.95–1.00], <21 teeth with (OR 1.74; 95% CI: 1.02–2.96) or without denture use (OR 2.45; 95% CI 1.15–5.21), and symptoms of dry mouth (OR ≥1.8; 95% CI ≥ 1.06–3.10) in the BRHS cohort. In the HABC Study, progression to frailty was associated with dry mouth (OR 2.62; 95% CI 1.05–6.55), self-reported difficulty eating (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.28–3.50) and ≥2 cumulative oral health problems (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.17–4.50). Progression to severe frailty was associated with edentulism (OR 4.44; 95% CI 1.39–14.15) and <21 teeth without dentures after full adjustment. Conclusions and Implications: These findings indicate that oral health problems, particularly tooth loss and dry mouth, in older adults are associated with progression to frailty in later life. Additional research is needed to determine if interventions aimed at maintaining (or improving) oral health can contribute to reducing the risk, and worsening, of physical frailty in older adults

Pilot GWAS of Caries in African-Americans Shows Genetic Heterogeneity

Background Dental caries is the most common chronic disease in the US and disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minorities. Caries is heritable, and though genetic heterogeneity exists between ancestries for a substantial portion of loci associated with complex disease, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of caries specifically in African Americans has not been performed previously. Methods We performed exploratory GWAS of dental caries in 109 African American adults (age \u3e 18) and 96 children (age 3–12) from the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia (COHRA1 cohort). Caries phenotypes (DMFS, DMFT, dft, and dfs indices) assessed by dental exams were tested for association with 5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), separately in the two age groups. The GWAS was performed using linear regression with adjustment for age, sex, and two principal components of ancestry. A maximum of 1 million adaptive permutations were run to determine empirical significance. Results No loci met the threshold for genome-wide significance, though some of the strongest signals were near genes previously implicated in caries such as antimicrobial peptide DEFB1 (rs2515501; p = 4.54 × 10− 6) and TUFT1 (rs11805632; p = 5.15 × 10− 6). Effect estimates of lead SNPs at suggestive loci were compared between African Americans and Caucasians (adults N = 918; children N = 983). Significant (p \u3c 5 × 10− 8) genetic heterogeneity for caries risk was found between racial groups for 50% of the suggestive loci in children, and 12–18% of the suggestive loci in adults. Conclusions The genetic heterogeneity results suggest that there may be differences in the contributions of genetic variants to caries across racial groups, and highlight the critical need for the inclusion of minorities in subsequent and larger genetic studies of caries in order to meet the goals of precision medicine and to reduce oral health disparities

The Pittsburgh Sloan Digital Sky Survey MgII Quasar Absorption-Line Survey Catalog

We present a catalog of intervening MgII quasar absorption-line systems in the redshift interval 0.36 <= z <= 2.28. The catalog was built from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Four (SDSS DR4) quasar spectra. Currently, the catalog contains > 17,000 measured MgII doublets. We also present data on the ~44,600 quasar spectra which were searched to construct the catalog, including redshift and magnitude information, continuum-normalized spectra, and corresponding arrays of redshift-dependent minimum rest equivalent widths detectable at our confidence threshold. The catalog is available on the web. A careful second search of 500 random spectra indicated that, for every 100 spectra searched, approximately one significant MgII system was accidentally rejected. Current plans to expand the catalog beyond DR4 quasars are discussed. Many MgII absorbers are known to be associated with galaxies. Therefore, the combination of large size and well understood statistics makes this catalog ideal for precision studies of the low-ionization and neutral gas regions associated with galaxies at low to moderate redshift. An analysis of the statistics of MgII absorbers using this catalog will be presented in a subsequent paper.Comment: AJ, in pres

Effects of Smoking and Genotype on the PSR Index of Periodontal Disease in Adults Aged 18–49

Studies have found both genetic and environmental influences on chronic periodontitis. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among previously identified genetic variants, smoking status, and two periodontal disease-related phenotypes (PSR1 and PSR2) in 625 Caucasian adults (aged 18–49 years). The PSR Index was used to classify participants as affected or unaffected under the PSR1 and PSR2 phenotype definitions. Using logistic regression, we found that the form of the relationship varied by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP): For rs10457525 and rs12630931, the effects of smoking and genotype on risk were additive; whereas for rs10457526 and rs733048, smoking was not independently associated with affected status once genotype was taken into consideration. In contrast, smoking moderated the relationships of rs3870371 and rs733048 with affected status such that former and never smokers with select genotypes were at increased genetic risk. Thus, for several groups, knowledge of genotype may refine the risk prediction over that which can be determined by knowledge of smoking status alone. Future studies should replicate these findings. These findings provide the foundation for the exploration of novel pathways by which periodontitis may occur

Novel caries loci in children and adults implicated by genome-wide analysis of families

Background: Dental caries is a common chronic disease among children and adults alike, posing a substantial health burden. Caries is affected by multiple genetic and environmental factors, and prior studies have found that a substantial proportion of caries susceptibility is genetically inherited. Methods: To identify such genetic factors, we conducted a genome-wide linkage scan in 464 extended families with 2616 individuals from Iowa, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for three dental caries phenotypes: (1) PRIM: dichotomized as zero versus one or more affected primary teeth, (2) QTOT1: age-adjusted quantitative caries measure for both primary and permanent dentitions including pre-cavitated lesions, and (3) QTOT2: age-adjusted quantitative caries excluding pre-cavitated lesions. Genotyping was conducted for approximately 600,000 SNPs on an Illumina platform, pruned to 127,511 uncorrelated SNPs for the analyses reported here. Results: Multipoint non-parametric linkage analyses generated peak LOD scores exceeding 2.0 for eight genomic regions, but no LOD scores above 3.0 were observed. The maximum LOD score for each of the three traits was 2.90 at 1q25.3 for PRIM, 2.38 at 6q25.3 for QTOT1, and 2.76 at 5q23.3 for QTOT2. Some overlap in linkage regions was observed among the phenotypes. Genes with a potential role in dental caries in the eight chromosomal regions include CACNA1E, LAMC2, ALMS1, STAMBP, GXYLT2, SLC12A2, MEGF10, TMEM181, ARID1B, and, as well as genes in several immune gene families. Our results are also concordant with previous findings from association analyses on chromosomes 11 and 19. Conclusions: These multipoint linkage results provide evidence in favor of novel chromosomal regions, while also supporting earlier association findings for these data. Understanding the genetic etiology of dental caries will allow designing personalized treatment plans based on an individual’s genetic risk of disease